Pomdering Proverbs

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22

Over the past decade, an entire industry has sprouted up promising the secrets to happiness. There are best-selling books like The Happiness Project and The How of Happiness, and happiness programs like Happify and Tal-Ben Shahar’s Wholebeing Institute.

Love and happiness may not actually originate in the heart, but they are good for it. For example, a 2005 paper found that happiness predicts lower heart rate and blood pressure. In the study, participants rated their happiness over 30 times in one day and then again three years later. The initially happiest participants had a lower heart rate on follow-up (about six beats slower per minute), and the happiest participants during the follow-up had better blood pressure.

We all know that stress is not good for our overall health, but did you know that too much stress can affect your bones? 

Science has determined that when we worry or become anxious, our bodies release a hormone called cortisol. Cortisol at normal levels is a helpful natural steroid, but when we stress too much and for too long it can have a negative lasting effect on our bones.

So it would seem that the book of Proverbs was well ahead of it’s time. 

Scripture is full of the word but and probably the most well known and least followed is found in Matthew 6 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  BUT store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."

Perhaps it is a question of where do we put what is most precious? Whether on public display or hidden, Jesus asks us to consider the real importance of what is valuable to us. Think about what was important to Jesus, how his words and actions showed the attitude and outlook of his heart. Maybe our medicine dose for today is to see what is in Jesus’ heart connects with what is in ours and ask God to help us grow in contentment as we appreciate what is true treasure.

Generous God,
in abundance you give us things both spiritual and physical.
Help us to hold lightly the fading things of this earth
and grasp tightly the lasting things of your kingdom,
so that what we are and do and say
may be our gifts to you
through Christ, who beckons all to seek the things above,
where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit. Amen.